S17 E4: The One About GCSE AQA Theme B - Religion and Life

This week I am look at GCSE AQA Theme B Religion and Life. I will go through the main content, and apply this to a 4, 6, and 12-mark questions.

I think the following Bible passage is the foundation of Theme B;

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

4-marker

Explain two similar religious beliefs in contemporary British society that are used to oppose animal experimentation. In your answer you must refer to the main religious tradition of Great Britain and one or more other religious traditions.

Some Christians oppose animals experimentation because of their belief in stewardship which is a belief that they have a duty to care for God’s creation

This is because God created everything and said it was good so they should not harm it

A similar Christian belief is that experimenting on animals for cosmetics is wrong because it is currently against the law in the UK

This is because Christians believe they should follow the law of the land

4-marker

Explain two reasons why many religious people protect the environment. Refer to sacred writings or another source of religious belief and teaching in your answer.
Some Christians may protect the environment because they believe in stewardship - the duty to care and protect the earth.
This is because they believe the earth belongs to God
In The Bible it says ‘the earth is the Lord's and everything in it’
This means that if the earth and everything in it belongs to God, it doesn’t belong to humans so Christians must protect it out of respect to God
Another Christian belief is that we should protect the environment in order to protect human life
This is because humans can only survive if we look after the planet that sustains us.

12-marker

People who value and protect human life will be rewarded in the afterlife.’
Evaluate this statement.
In your answer you:
• should give reasoned arguments in support of this statement
• should give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view
• should refer to religious arguments
• may refer to non-religious arguments
• should reach a justified conclusion

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This episode of the Army Podcast is sponsored by Reimagining Education, an organization dedicated to making learning inspiring, relevant, and future focused. Just like this podcast, they're passionate about exploring life's big questions and helping both students and teachers thrive. Find out more at reimaginingeducation.uk. A huge thank you to Reimagining Education for supporting the podcast. Welcome to the RE Podcast, the first dedicated RE podcast for students and teachers. My name is Louisa Jane Smith and this is the RE Podcast. The podcast for those of you who think RE is boring, which it is, and I'll prove it to you. In this series, I'm giving a little rundown of GCSE RE, specifically AQA. I've already done all of paper one and now I am on paper two thematic studies. In the first episode, I broke down paper two generally. Now remember there are six different themes and you only have to learn about four of them. So ask your teacher which themes you need to revise and only listen to the four episodes you need to. In the last episode, I went over theme A, Marriage in the Family. In this episode, I'm going to cover the theme B religion and life specification in full and apply it to four, six and twelve markers. I'm only going to do it from a Christian perspective because that is the religion that everybody does. As always, we're going to focus on making sure that you feel confident in explaining two similar and two different beliefs about each of the topics and quotes that you can use for each point on the spec so that you are ready for any question that may come your way in the exam. I kind of feel that Genesis 1 and 2 are must reads for this topic. It is the basis for most of the Christian views within this theme. I'm just going to read a little section from the end of Genesis 1 that I'm going to quote quite a lot in this episode. It says, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. I'm going to quote from this section quite a lot in this theme B episode, but I also want you to notice the parts that are relevant to theme A, so the be fruitful and multiply and male and female he made them. Okay, so theme B, religion and life. Students should study religious teachings and religious philosophical and ethical arguments relating to the issues that follow, and their impact and influence in the modern world. They should be aware of contrasting perspectives in contemporary British society on all these issues. They must be able to explain contrasting beliefs on the following three issues with reference to the main religious tradition in Britain, Christianity, and one or more other religious traditions. So our three topics are abortion, euthanasia, animal experimentation. So these are the three topics we can get one of those contemporary British society four markers on. So let's start with them. Abortion is the deliberate ending of a pregnancy. If the pregnancy ends naturally, this is called a miscarriage, and this can happen at any time. If we start with the law about abortion, the law in the UK allows abortion up to 24 weeks into the pregnancy. This is the time after which the fetus is known as viable, which means it could survive outside of the womb if it was born. Abortion is only allowed after 24 weeks in certain situations. For example, to save the mother's life. One misconception that many students have is that people are either for abortion or against abortion. This is not technically true. People are either pro-life or pro-choice. Pro-life means supporting the right of the fetus to be born. They see life as starting at conception, and that they have a duty to protect that life as it cannot fight for itself. There is a verse in the Bible that says, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. This teaches Christians that God values human life before conception. Many Christians are pro-life because of the belief in the sanctity of life. In Theme we talked about the sanctity of marriage vows, which means that marriage vows are sacred. While most Christians believe life is also sacred, which means it is given by God and must be protected. Only God can therefore end life. They base this belief on verses like God breathed life into Adam, and when it says that humans were made in the image of God. They also cite one of the Ten Commandments, do not kill. It also says in the Bible, I am God, I give life, and I take it away. So it is clear that the Bible is pro-life, and as such very much against abortion. Some Christians even oppose abortion if a rape has occurred, as they believe God has brought life out of evil, and the life should not be punished as a result of someone else's sin. However, other Christians are pro-choice. This means they believe in a woman's right to choose what happens to her body. This means she should have the right to decide whether to continue with the pregnancy or end it. Remember, this is not pro-abortion. Most Christians believe in the sanctity of life and realize that abortion goes against this. But as the fetus is inside the woman, the woman's rights also have to be taken into consideration. Most Christians think there are times when abortion could be seen as an acceptable choice. For example, if the mother's life is at risk. All life is sacred, but if there is a choice between a fetus and a mother, most Christians believe the mother should be saved. This is because the mother already has a life, may have other children, and it would be cruel to bring a child into the world at the expense of the mother's life. For some, this is the only acceptable reason for abortion. Pro-choice is based on quality of life more than sanctity of life. Quality of life is the standard of health, comfort, and happiness or fulfillment experienced by a person or group. As such, some Christians would look compassionately at the context of the pregnancy. If a woman has been raped, it is usually seen as compassionate grounds for abortion. They see that it would be cruel for the mother to have a daily reminder of the attack and cruel for the child if they found out how they were conceived. Therefore, the quality of life is taken away due to the cause of the pregnancy. Some may also understand the need for an abortion if the mother is not able to fully care for the child. From theme A, we saw that the purpose of the family was to provide security for children. If someone cannot afford another child, some Christians may accept abortion. This again is based on a belief in the quality of life. And we can use the verse love your neighbour as yourself and the golden rule, treat others the way you would want to be treated, to support this belief. Which view of abortion allows a Christian to show love and to treat others the way they would want to be treated? Most Christians disagree with the morning after pill, as this is often used as a response to unprotected sex, but technically is an abortion. Pro-choice is not exclusively a religious point of view, so it is held by many non-religious people too. This is because of a belief in human rights and the belief that humans should have reproductive rights. The second topic that you must know about from the perspective of modern Christianity is euthanasia. Euthanasia comes from the Greek for easy death, and it is assisting with the ending of a life for a person who is terminally ill or has a degenerative illness, often known as assisted suicide. This can be active or passive. Active euthanasia is actively giving a patient something with the purpose of ending their life. Passive euthanasia is when treatment is removed, which means their life ends naturally. For example, turning off a life support machine or removing a feeding tube. Active euthanasia is currently illegal in this country and can come with a punishment of up to 14 years in prison. Doctors take something called the Hippocratic Oath, which is a promise to do good and avoid harm. It is an ancient Greek document which is still adhered to today. Deliberately and actively ending a life contravenes this oath. It could also lead to abuse if doctors are given this power. Interestingly, around half of UK doctors want all forms of euthanasia to become legalized in this country in order to end the suffering of terminally ill patients. However, around 40% are opposed and 10% are undecided. This is because many doctors are worried about the impact on their mental health if ending life is a regular part of their job. However, this is legal in many countries, for example the Netherlands. And not all doctors have to take part in this. Passive euthanasia is legal and a common practice in hospitals. Often people in comas are kept alive on a life support machine. Once there is no brain activity, the machine can be turned off. In terms of religious beliefs about euthanasia, most Christians follow the law. Active euthanasia is illegal and the Bible says follow the law of the land. As such, many Christians are against active euthanasia. However, they will also use the Sanctity of Life argument and do not kill to support this belief. Furthermore, they apply the belief that only God can end life, and as God doesn't test you more than you can bear, he will give the patient the strength to deal with the illness and take them to heaven in his perfect timing. This view is supported by the Bible verse, I am God, I give life and I take it away, showing that only God should end life. Conversely, passive euthanasia is legal plus isn't actively ending a life, but withdrawing treatment, so is acceptable to most Christians. However, there is a growing number of Christians who support active euthanasia. There are countries in the world, like the Netherlands, where active euthanasia is legal, so that gets over that element. But also they focus on love and compassion, as often it is ending the drawn-out suffering of terminally ill loved ones. As such, ending suffering is a loving, compassionate action. They focus on a belief that humans deserve a humane quality of life. And if they have little quality of life and have a terminal illness, so will die, this will bring death closer in order to limit suffering and therefore is acceptable. Also, they believe in honouring the right of the patient to end their life if that is their desire. Let's think about that verse we came across in theme A that said, But if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. There are different interpretations of this verse in relation to euthanasia. Providing for your family could mean providing a way out of suffering or honouring their wish to die, or it could be protecting their life at all costs. It is important to know here that this topic is very controversial, and most religious people don't agree with each other as to what is the right beliefs to have. And the third topic is animal experimentation. This is the practice of testing chemicals on animals to ensure they work and don't have adverse reactions. This could be for cosmetics or medicine. Once they have been successfully tested on animals, humans can then volunteer for human experiments. The current UK law only permits animal research for medical purposes where no alternatives exist and for specific approved purposes by license establishments. Tests are based on three principles replacement, so using non-animal methods if available, reduction, using the fewest animals necessary, and refinement, minimising suffering and improving welfare of the animal. The government is hoping to phase out specific tests between the end of 2025 and 2027 by developing alternatives, so human-relevant models and organ technology. It is currently illegal to test cosmetics in the UK, but many ingredients within cosmetics are tested in countries where it is legal. This is because UK law formally recognises animals as sentient beings, requiring welfare standards. Sentient means able to perceive or feel things, so some people think we shouldn't experiment on animals because they can feel it. Other people think it is necessary in order to protect humans and find medications that can manage or cure medical conditions. Religious views on animal testing are quite varied. The sanctity of life only relates to humans, not animals. And if the medication being tested protects human life, then many Christians would accept it. Arguments tend to revolve around the ideas of dominion and stewardship. Dominion means to dominate or have power over. Some Christians believe we have dominion over animals because God told Adam and Eve to rule over the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that moves on the ground. However, other Christians believe that God intended us to be stewards of the earth, which means to look after it. This is because of the verse in Genesis which says, The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. The next section is the origins and value of the universe, where we have to know about the origins of the universe, including religious teachings about the origins of the universe, and different interpretations of these, the relationship between scientific views such as the Big Bang Theory, and religious views, the value of the world and the duty of human beings to protect it, including religious teaching about stewardship, dominion, responsibility, awe and wonder. The use and abuse of the environment, including the use of natural resources and pollution. I want to point out at this point that origins of the universe and origins of human life, which comes later in the spec, in this theme are very distinct. The origins of the universe is that God created the heavens and the earth and said, let there be light, or the Big Bang. The origins of human life is that God created humans on day six in his image, or evolution. Don't mix these up. Religious teachings about the origin of the universe and different interpretation of these also comes up in Christian beliefs in paper one, so you can use knowledge from this topic in theme B paper 2. In that episode, we learnt Genesis 1, 1 to 3. This is a quote you must know off by heart for paper 1, and it tells us what the Bible says about the origins of the universe. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light. So the origin of the universe for Christians is that God created the universe out of nothing by speaking. The Big Bang Theory is the theory of the origin of the universe from a scientific perspective. It states that a hot space opened up, creating time and space, and as it expanded, it created the universe. The scientific evidence for this is that the universe is still expanding, so it must have started from a singular point. If we measure the speed of expansion and the size of the universe, we can date the Big Bang event to approximately 14.6 billion years ago. We can also observe the radiation energy created from this Big Bang. Plus, the amount of helium in the world can only have been created with this Big Bang. Please don't state that the Big Bang was an explosion in space or that it was caused by rocks bashing together. This simply isn't true. Number one, it was an expansion, not an explosion. And number two, nothing existed before the Big Bang. The Big Bang created space and time and matter. Actually, scientists don't really know what was before the Big Bang or even what caused the Big Bang. It's worth noting at this point that 70% of scientists believe in God and think God created the Big Bang. And God explains why the Big Bang happened. Therefore, science explains how the universe started and religion explains why. Different Christians understand the story of creation in Genesis in different ways. The first way is the literalist view of creation. A literal interpretation means taking that story exactly as it's written without any interpretation. So a key belief a literal Christian might hold could be that God created everything in the universe in six 24-hour days and that he rested on the seventh. As this doesn't fit with scientific accounts of the origin of the universe, they tend to reject the Big Bang theory because it's not what the Bible said happened. Alternatively, some Christians may interpret the Genesis story of creation in a non-literalist way. The story should be taken as more symbolic or more metaphorical representation of the truth rather than an accurate account of how creation happened. Those that wrote the story did not observe God creating and would have had a less scientific understanding of the world and would have been trying to make sense of the world around them and trying to understand more about God, but with less information than we have now. Therefore, non-literal Christians can accept the Big Bang theory, but they believe God caused it. Maybe when the Bible says, let there be light, this is a simple version of the Big Bang, as one of the first things created were photons or light particles. When it uses the word day in Genesis, the original word in Hebrew is yom, which could mean day or it could mean period of time. So if you take it to mean period of time, this means that creation could have happened over any period of time, whether that's six days or 14.6 billion years. The important belief is that God is the creator of the universe and life has a purpose. How this was done isn't as important and doesn't take away from their belief in God as an all-powerful and all-loving creator. However, literal Christians would be worried about non-literal interpretations of the Bible, as this could mean that any part of the Bible could be interpreted however someone wants. Maybe God or Jesus or heaven or salvation are all symbolic. They feel this is a dangerous road to go down and undermines the faith. This leads on to the next point in the spec, which is the value of the world and the duty of human beings to protect it, including religious teachings about stewardship, dominion, responsibility, awe and wonder. Most Christians experience awe and wonder when they look at creation. Awe and wonder are closely related, but awe is an intense feeling of being in the presence of something vast, like a huge mountain or the night sky, making someone feel small and humble. We get the word awesome from this word. Wonder is a feeling of curiosity that makes you feel like you want to know more, like the intricacies of the human eye or a spider web or an intricate flower or the balance in nature. Both these feelings help a Christian experience God through his creation. A Bible verse you could use is the whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders. Or you could just use the story of creation in Genesis to support this. I really like a verse in Romans 1 that I mentioned in the paper 2 introduction episode, which says that creation proves the existence of God. It says, for the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. This leads us nicely onto the value of the world and the duty of human beings to protect it. Essentially, if God created the universe, Christians believe it. It therefore has value. Also, the Bible says the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Therefore, if the earth belongs to God, Christians feel they have a duty to look after it. So it has value because it was made by God, and Christians have a duty to look after it because it belongs to God. We looked at stewardship and dominion in the section about animal experimentation, but we can use it in relation to the earth too. Some Christians believe we have dominion and power over the earth because God told Adam and Eve to rule over it. This means humans can do whatever they want to the earth and use it for their own benefit. Other Christians think we have to look after the earth, either because they think ruling over means to watch over and care for, or because God created the world and it has value and therefore they have a duty to look after it. Humans cannot use the world however they want. This leads us nicely onto the use and abuse of the environment, including the use of natural resources and pollution. Let's first distinguish between use and abuse. Use is using something properly for its intended purpose, while abuse has negative or harmful consequences. For example, cutting down a tree to make fire or cutting down a few trees to make paper is use. Deforestation is abuse, as you are destroying natural habitats and removing too many trees, which should be removing CO2 from the atmosphere and converting it into oxygen. If we remove too many trees from the earth, that means that the air will be full of CO2 without very much oxygen, and that is going to be devastating for human life. We are currently cutting down one football pitch of forest every second. So that kind of leads us on to the use and abuse of natural resources. So when we're talking about natural resources, we are thinking about anything which the earth produces naturally, i.e., coal, oil, wood, air, water, minerals, animals. There is a way of using these, for example, we can use wind to generate electricity, but because wind is renewable, i.e. it doesn't run out, and doesn't cause pollution or harm the environment, this is a good example of use of natural resources. If we think about oil, this is non-renewable, i.e., it will one day run out. And because it is actually currently running out, we have to use really damaging techniques to access it, i.e., fracking, which is essentially forcing a crack deep into the earth to get oil from within it. Most Christians think using the earth is acceptable because God gave them the earth to rule over. However, most Christians, although not all, think it's wrong to abuse the earth. However, increasing numbers of Christians are realizing that how we have used the earth in the past is now abusing it because of the climate crisis. They think in order to be good stewards, they need to drastically change their lifestyles. If we look at non-religious views, they are on a hugely varying scale. From people who believe we can abuse the earth as much as we want to in order to make profit, for example, from oil, to those who take extreme actions not to damage the planet at all, for example, are vegan and avoid using transport. One thinks that growing the economy is the most important human duty, and the other thinks that protecting the planet for future generations is more important. The scientific community are quite united in the belief that the environment is at a crisis point in terms of global warming, melting of the ice caps, deforestation, CO2 levels in the atmosphere, depletion of fossil fuels, and as such, the earth will not be able to sustain life for much longer if something isn't done. World leaders are not currently prepared to make the changes being recommended. If we think about the use and abuse of animals, we can apply the same information. Line fishing for a fish to eat is use. Dragnet fishing, so literally dragging a massive net across the ocean bed, causes lots of damage to the plants in the sea and kills way more ocean life than is actually used. This means there is more CO2 in the air as marine plants burn CO2 and release oxygen, which causes air pollution and global warming. Using the egg from a chicken is use. Huge battery farms where chickens are squashed in cages unable to move is abuse. Using milk from a cow is use. Breeding cows, artificially inseminating them, killing the calf and taking the milk is abuse. We've already looked at animal experimentation, but the other thing you need to know about is the use of animals for food. Currently we consume 80 to 100 billion land animals per year. This is thousands per second. However, it gets into the trillions if we include life in the sea. The biggest cause of air pollution, sea pollution and deforestation is actually dairy farming. This is because of the methane that the cows produce, the waste that is washed into the water supply, and the amount of land needing to be cleared to breed them. Most humans want to eat meat and therefore do it as a good source of protein. But more and more people are giving up animal products due to the devastating effect it is having on the environment, getting proteins from other food sources. The Bible isn't clear on whether Christians should eat meat. In the original Garden of Eden, which God said was good, humans were given anything with seeds in it to eat, so fruit, nuts, seeds, etc., and everything with the breath of life in it was given green plants. However, after the flood, humans were told by God to eat anything which moved. For many Christians, therefore, being vegan is what God originally intended, and they were only told to eat animal products after a catastrophic natural event. These Christians feel then that veganism is necessary in 2025 due to the serious problems associated with the environment. As such, the best way to be stewards of the earth for these Christians is to give up animal products. However, other Christians think humans can rule over the earth so can eat animals. Also, they think because Jesus ate fish, it is acceptable for them too. Some Christians do not accept science as a source of authority, and as such, don't accept the evidence coming from the scientific community about what is happening to the earth. The next section is the origins and value of human life. Under this section, we need to look at the origins of life, including religious teachings about the origin of human life and different interpretations of these, and the relationship between scientific views such as evolution and religious views. Remember earlier I said that students sometimes get confused between the origins of the universe and the origins of human life? Well, let's just check we get the difference. The origin of human life for Christians is that God created humans on the sixth day in his image. The scientific theory of the origins of humans is that we evolved from other life forms over billions of years. This is known as evolution. So the origins of the universe is God created it or the Big Bang created it, and the origin of human life is God created them in his image or evolution. The reason Christians think God created humans on the sixth day in his image is that that is what the Bible teaches. It says, so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him. Later on it says, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good, and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. However, we know that Christians have different interpretations of this. Some Christians think humans were made six literal days after the beginning of creation and were made in God's image and were perfect from the beginning. Others think this is a simple version of the story and that God made humans as the final creation. If we look at evolution, this is the scientific theory about the origin of human life. After the Big Bang, a space opened up with a big soup of different elements like hydrogen, helium, and then later carbon, oxygen, iron, and so on. Over billions of years, these things joined together to form stars and planets and seas and sun, and when the sun shone on the planets full of water, this created very simple life forms. These simple life forms then became more complex through a process called evolution through natural selection. A living thing will have a random genetic mutation. If that mutation gives them an advantage, then they are more likely to survive and pass that gene on. Over time, each living organism becomes more complex and better suited to its environment. Humans are the last evolution in that process. Most Christians reject evolution, either because it took billions of years and the Bible said that humans were created on the sixth day, or because the Bible says that humans were made as a distinct creation in God's image and did not evolve from chimpanzees. I think there's also a sense that evolution is quite a cruel process of survival of the fittest, and they don't think this is consistent with a loving God. Finally, God made the world complete from the beginning, it didn't become complete over time. Plus, he said it was good from the beginning, it didn't improve over time. Some Christians support evolution as the process by which God created the world because they accept the evidence of the fossil record showing evolution, species that are still evolving, and the genetic similarities between related species. For example, humans share 98.8% of their DNA with chimps. Nearly all scientists accept evolution as the process by which life originated. If you listen to the theme A episode, you would have learnt about the sanctity of marriage vows. Sanctity means holy or sacred. Marriage vows are sacred, and for Christians, so is human life. Because the Bible says humans were made in the image of God, and later it says God breathed life into humans, Christians see human life as different from other life. It is sacred. We call this the sanctity of life, the belief that human life is sacred or special and has intrinsic value because it's a gift from God. And surprisingly, this affects what Christians believe about how you should treat human life. Like you can't break sacred marriage vows, you can't end human life because both are sacred. A huge misconception is that the sanctity of life applies to all life. It doesn't, it only applies to humans. However, a counter-idea to this is the quality of life. This is a person's overall well-being, health, comfort, and happiness, or how good or meaningful their life is. Often Christians have to weigh up the sanctity of life with the quality of life. Which is more ethical, to end a human life if their quality of life is poor, or to protect human life regardless? This is particularly relevant when talking about abortion and euthanasia. We've already gone through both of these topics earlier in the episode, but there are some specific things related to abortion you also need to know. So abortion, including situations where the mother's life is at risk, ethical arguments related to abortion, including those based on the sanctity of life and quality of life. So we know that abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy and removing the fetus from the womb to end the pregnancy. We know that in the UK, abortion is legal up until 24 weeks. This is when the fetus is considered viable, i.e., it could survive outside the womb. We know about pro-choice and pro-life, and we know that there is no real pro-abortion argument, just pro-choice. Many Christians are pro-life and so against abortion, because it's ending a human life and they believe in the sanctity of life. And in the Bible, it says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and it says, do not kill. We also know that other Christians believe you have to look at the circumstances of the pregnancy and weigh up what is compassionate with what is right. While abortion is not right, it might be necessary or understandable, for example, if the woman had been raped. And we could use verses like love your neighbour here and the golden rule, treat others the way you would want to be treated. If contraception has failed and a couple cannot afford a child, the quality of life of the whole family could be could be damaged. Or if the parents are very young and not ready for a child, some Christians will support this. However, many Christians believe if you are not ready for children, you should not enter into a sexual relationship. While some Christians campaign against abortion, most are pro-choice. So while they may not choose to have an abortion themselves, they support other people's right to. This is because the Bible is very clear about not judging others and showing love and compassion. The last thing we have to know about in regards to abortion is whether it is right if the mother's life is at risk. The law will grant abortions at any time after 24 weeks if the woman's life is in danger, there is a risk of grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health, or severe abnormality with the fetus. Most Christians would maintain the same position as they did with any abortion, either pro-life or pro-choice. However, pro-life could mean protecting the mother's life over the life of the fetus, so may only accept abortion if the mother's life is in danger. I do actually have a separate episode on abortion and euthanasia with some more detail, so you can go back and listen to these if you want a deeper dive into these topics. The last section in this theme is beliefs about death and an afterlife and their impact on beliefs about the value of human life. Different beliefs about the afterlife are also in Christian beliefs, so you can use some of your knowledge from this section too. However, beliefs about death and the impact on beliefs about the value of human life is a part of the spec which is often missed. It actually came up as a really nasty 12 marker in June 2022, which said people who value and protect human life will be rewarded in the afterlife. Let's tackle this one later. We're going to start with beliefs about death. Two beliefs about death is that it happens when God plans it and it is not the end. The Bible says, I am God, I give life and I take it away. This teaches that death is inevitable and ordained by God. If we also have a look at a verse we've seen before, John 3.16, it says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not die, but have eternal life. This teaches Christians that if they believe in Jesus, death is not the end. If we then think about beliefs about the afterlife, we know that if Christians believe death isn't the end, there is an afterlife. Most Christians believe that if you believe in Jesus and are a good person, you will go to heaven, which is eternity in a perfect place with God. If you are not a Christian or not a good person, you will go to hell, which is a place of suffering without God. Some Christians think these are literal places, some people think they are symbolic places. But the interesting part of the spec is how beliefs about death and the afterlife impact beliefs about the value of human life. So the value of human life is expressed through salvation. Human life is valuable because it can be given eternal life. God sent Jesus to die for humans so that we could have eternal life. Another belief is that human life is valuable because how you treat it will impact how you spend eternity. So if you have valued human life, you will be rewarded in the afterlife. But if you have not valued human life, you will be punished in the afterlife. Let's think about the parable of the sheep and the goats. Whatever you do for the least of one of these, you did for me. And then it says the righteous will have eternal life. Quite simply, if you value human life, you will be rewarded in heaven. In conclusion, God values human life enough to pay the way for all humans to go to heaven. And if you value human life, you will be rewarded in the afterlife. And if you value human life, you may want as many people as possible to go to heaven, and therefore you will evangelize. So that's all of the content. Let's now have a look at some exam questions. And we're going to start with one of those exceptional four markers. Now listen up because this is possibly the most complicated question I've ever read. Explain two similar religious beliefs in contemporary British society that are used to oppose animal experimentation. In your answer, you must refer to the main religious tradition of Great Britain and one or more other religious traditions. So I'm going to have a go at answering that in a way that would get four out of four. Some Christians oppose animal experimentation because of their belief in stewardship, which is a belief that they have a duty to care for God's creation. This is because God created everything and said it was good, so they should not harm it. A similar Christian belief is that experimenting on animals for cosmetics is wrong because it is currently against the law in the UK. This is because Christians believe they should follow the law of the land. So while this is a really tricky question because it has to be about animal experimentation, it has to be similar religious beliefs, it would be much easier to do different ones. It's got to be contemporary British society and it has to be from a Christian point of view. That is how you would answer that and get four out of four. If you have another religion, you could make your second point about why people from that religion oppose it. But you can't use non-religious views because the question says similar religious beliefs. As you can see from my answer, I would get four out of four, as I have two fully developed points which meet all the requirements for this question. If you want to have a go at practicing more of these styles of question, swap animal experimentation with abortion or euthanasia. Let's have a look at a six-mark question. Explain two reasons why many religious people protect the environment. Refer to sacred writings or another source of religious belief and teaching in your answer. What you've got to be really careful of is that you can only talk about protecting the environment. You cannot talk about abusing it. Here's a response. Some Christians may protect the environment because they believe in stewardship, the duty to care and protect the earth. This is because they believe the earth belongs to God. In the Bible, it says the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. This means that if the earth and everything in it belongs to God, it doesn't belong to humans, so Christians must protect it out of respect to God. Another Christian belief is that we should protect the environment in order to protect human life. This is because human life can only survive if we look after the planet that sustains us. Both points have developed explanations, and to get that fifth mark, there is a clear quote, and I've remembered to show the examiner the source of my quote. And we have applied the quote to the question for the sixth mark. Again, if you want to have a go at doing a six mark question on your own, swap protect the environment with any other point from the spec. I think beliefs about death could be a good one to try. Do this in time conditions, giving yourself about five minutes. For our 12 marker, I wanted to tackle that tricky one from June 2022. People who value and protect human life will be rewarded in the afterlife. Remember, often this is evaluate this statement. In your answer, you should give reasoned arguments in support of this statement, should give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view, should refer to religious arguments, may refer to non-religious arguments, should reach a justified conclusion. So you could talk about how part of the Christian belief is in the sanctity of life. And so therefore, most will be opposed to euthanasia and many to abortion. Because life is sacred, life is precious, and it is a God-given blessing. Obviously, the Ten Commandments include the instruction not to kill, but also Christians believe that death is not the end, and God judges whether a person's soul will spend eternity in heaven or hell. Heaven is indescribably wonderful, as that's where God is. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, it says you are rewarded for how you treat the least of people. So therefore, protecting and valuing human life will be rewarded. We could then argue that. Valuing and protecting life is a basic moral duty, regardless of any religious faith, or regardless of whether there is an afterlife. We can link this to human rights and the human right to life. We could use non-religious arguments like there is no life after death, so you can't be rewarded for what you do in this life, as no one has experienced an afterlife, so who can say what might be rewarded? We could also argue that people who value and protect life may still not be rewarded in the afterlife if they don't believe in Jesus, using salvation by grace and John 3.16. Those who believe in him will not die but have eternal life. The price for salvation was paid by Jesus' death and resurrection, so it's those who put their faith and trust in Jesus that will be forgiven and have the reward of eternal life in heaven. Heaven is not gained simply by being a good person or believing in the value of life, but it is a free gift to those who believe in Jesus. In terms of a conclusion, I would argue that the strongest argument is that people who value and protect life will be rewarded in the afterlife. This is because it will lead to the most ethical decisions. Most people believe that valuing and protecting human life is right, even if they're not religious. But if God exists and doesn't reward this, then it would undermine his love and goodness. This view is supported by authority and is believed by most people, so it is the strongest view. If you wanted to have a go at a 12 marker, I would suggest creating one about pollution or use of the earth's resources. Well I hope this episode has been helpful as an overview of theme B, as well as how to answer four, six, and twelve mark questions on this theme. I hope you are also now aware of the key quotes that you can use in Theme B. This podcast is supported by ReimaginingEducation at reimaginingeducation.uk. My name is Louisa Jane Smith, and this has been the RE Podcast. The podcast for those of you who think RE is boring, which it might be, but I really hope that this will help you to get a better grade in GCSC RE. And thank you for letting me bore the life out of you.